Comments | secretsolitaire: 14 Valentines, Day 2

secretsolitaire

14 Valentines, Day 2

Feb 02, 2009 22:21

Today's topic at 14valentines is transgender issues.

I have a couple of book recommendations for today.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
This has got to be one of my all-time favorite books. (In fact, I've recced it before. *g*) The main character, Cal/Callie, is a hermaphrodite who is raised as a girl but realizes as a teenager that his assigned gender doesn' ( Read more... )

14valentines, books

Comments 10

darla_isabelle February 3 2009, 09:22:16 UTC

I've read Middlesex; you're right, it's great! Written on the Body sounds interesting to. I've read Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson and loved it. My amazon list keeps getting longer and longer....

secretsolitaire February 4 2009, 03:22:43 UTC

Jeanette Winterson is amazing. I read her book Lighthousekeeping over the summer and was totally smitten.

darla_isabelle February 4 2009, 23:21:58 UTC

I'll have to check that out, too, then.

secretsolitaire February 5 2009, 00:34:36 UTC

Hope you enjoy!

magnetic_pole February 3 2009, 14:36:16 UTC

Oh, these are two books I've always been interested in, now even more. Thanks for the recs! M.

secretsolitaire February 4 2009, 03:25:01 UTC

Hope you enjoy! Really, anything by Jeanette Winterson is pretty wonderful...

livingtea February 3 2009, 22:44:27 UTC

hello! i'm here from 14valentines and i just wanted drop in to say, interesting choice of recs!

i read both for a gender/sexuality studies seminar in the fall, and thought written on the body was just simply breathtaking. :D. the writing, the interesting views on what love is, was lovely. however, i thought there was something about middlesex that seemed... off? i felt like callie's acceptance of her hermaphroditism was quite abrupt and unrealistic, which soured the book for me. but it really was quite an interesting look on nature v nurture and gender issues.

hope you don't mind me dropping in!

secretsolitaire February 4 2009, 13:08:02 UTC

Hey there! Of course I don't mind you dropping in. :-)

It's been over a year since I last read Middlesex, so my memory could be completely fuzzy here, but Callie's acceptance read okay to me. I seem to remember her feeling kind of "off" for a long time before she learned the truth, and knowing that she wasn't normal, so I think her process of acceptance was something that happened slowly over several years. Of course, I'd have to read the book again to be able to argue that with any level of conviction. :-P

Anyway, glad you liked the Winterson book -- have you read any of her others? I just read Lighthousekeeping over the summer and thought it was stunning.

livingtea February 5 2009, 00:28:56 UTC

i read oranges aren't the only fruit and enjoyed it, although not as much as i enjoyed written on the body.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15794 this review (although very lengthy!) articulates, in a much clearer and detailed manner, all the issues i had with middlesex. for me, callie/cal's half was much less engaging than the rich family history that led up to her, eventually his, situation.

secretsolitaire February 5 2009, 01:25:11 UTC

What an interesting review (though I'm glad I didn't read it before I read the book -- talk about spoilers! *g*). I agree that the part of the book about the immigrant experience is richer and stronger than Cal/Callie's coming of age, but a lot of the parts of the book that the reviewer found "studied" or ineffective worked okay for me. Different strokes, I guess. :-)